Canada re-thinks strategy

The crisis that engulfed the financial markets in 2008 could not have come at a worse time for the Canadian hedge fund industry.

Riding on the coat tails of the commodities bull run, local managers built an enviable reputation for outperformance between 2005 and 2007, when returns on the Scotia Capital Canadian Hedge Fund Performance Index comfortably outstripped the international HFRI index.

That changed in 2008. Canadian managers were unable to avoid the fallout from the deterioration in the U